Prayers inspired by: original prayers, Psalm 80:9-17; Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46 The prayer of St Francis.
An approach, an acknowledgment.
E te Atua tino tapu
E rapu ana mātou
i Tō mata;
E huri ana ngā whakaaro
Ki a rātou kua wehe atu ki tua o te ārai.
Meinga kia noho rātou kei roto i Tō poho
Meinga kia huri mātou ngā morehu
i ō mātou ngākau ki a Koe.
Haumi ē
Hui ē,
Taiki ē.
Holy God
We seek Your face.
We also turn our thoughts.
To those who have passed beyond the veil.
May they rest in You.
May we who are left
Turn our hearts to you.
Together.
For the Church.
Creator God
In Your goodness you gave us the vine.
“You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the river.”
But sometimes we destroyed
what You created.
But Jesus, our friend and brother;
You are yet the true vine in whom we can abide
And You in us.
Bless and revive those parts of the Church
that suffer persecution for Your name’s sake;
Bless and restore those parts of the Church
That have forgotten how to abide in You.
Spirit of God,
Be with us in worship,
And in prayer,
In our ministries,
And in our fellowship -
With our old ones,
With our young ones,
With our families of every form.
May You shine through us -
In loving invitation to all
To abide in the Vine.
Bidding & Response
God who sustains us,
Grant that we bear good fruit.
We pray for the world and for this place.
O God,
We cry out to you for your impossible grace -
In the wounded, dark places of the world,
Where the bad tenants kill and destroy good fruit.
We ask for your blessing upon
those quiet people
all around the world, and here in our own place,
working in the vineyard every day;
To bring forth fruits of peace and goodness.
God who sustains us,
Grant that we bear good fruit.
We pray for our communities and for our own needs.
O God, in our homes, communities, workplaces and streets
Make us all a channel of Your peace,
that where there is hatred, we may bring love;
that where there is wrong,
we may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, we may bring harmony;
that where there is error, we may bring truth.
We lift to you
what we need this week;
and whatever befalls us, good, or not.
May we remember at least one thing
for which to give You thanks.
God who sustains us,
Grant that we bear good fruit.
